Newbie introduction - Looking to buy my 1st Elan

[Enright]

I'm going to see if the Nottingham one will let me have a look next.

Let me know more about the Nottingham one - I'm not in competition with you (don't have room for any more!), but may either know it or be able to help.

[dapinky]

Personally, I wouldn't even want to look at the one in Sheffield, let alone buy it.

(and it appears that the owner isn't too fussed to let you have a good look anyway - quelle surprise )

(feel free to ask why by PM, but I won't put anything on open forum)

[Danny R]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/281293752977

Is the link to the Nottingham one. Just told me (just this minute) that even though it ends today, he can't let me see it.

"Hi Dan,
sorry viewing today is pretty much out of the question and with today being the last day of the auction that will mean you'll have to bid unseen if you still want it...risky for you i know but i think you probably know enough about the car and its still a real bargain at the money its at now in my view...sorry mate you've either got to take a chance or lose out.
leave it with you.
cheers
"
So, I think that one's out.

The Sheffield one, was always a bit of an outsider, I just thought It's close enough to just go see and no harm done.

[inkitin]

The Sheffield one, was always a bit of an outsider, I just thought It's close enough to just go see and no harm done.

Coincidence?

[Danny R]

The Sheffield one, was always a bit of an outsider, I just thought It's close enough to just go see and no harm done.

Coincidence?

What a coincidence!
There's certainly a lot of similarities.

[Jeemy]

Thats an awful way to treat a potential buyer and with the "coincidence" I think you are right just to leave on.

I still think with £3-4k spent you can get something roadworthy. I would also say that even if you spend £4-5, you're going to find issues that need correction, its simply the way with these cars. I remember somebody spent considerably more than that on a forum car a while back that was very nicely specced and treated and by the time he got it home it had a problem, which he was none too happy about but its par for the course really.

A very wise man once said to me that whatever you spend on a car, you should be prepared to spend the same again the following day getting it up to standard. You might not have to, but its wise to think that way and its a sad fact that the majority of second hand cars have far more problems than the seller mentions.

I don't think its only the fault of the seller because as I say, if you spend £3,000 on a £3k car getting it up to spec and really nice, not particularly an Elan, anything, you'll not find a £6k buyer easily if at all. Most buyers would prefer to spend the £3k and take their chances, and if they wait long enough, they will probably be able to do so wisely. Seems like you are still in the waiting period. I've sent you a PM.

[Jeemy]

Lots of seemingly quite pleasant Elans on eBay now, several listed today.

[Enright]

Agreed, but interspersed with a few frankly scary ones!
I'm amazed at how much the aforementioned ones sold for.
It certainly seems to be a seller's market at the moment, no matter how dodgy the car.
Wonder how long it will be before new owners appear, crying for help?!?

[Danny R]

The feedback has just been left for the 'coincidence' car:



Feedback From Buyer/price Date/time
Negative feedback rating STAY CLEAR. CAR DANGEROUS. Didn't want me to test drive, steering knackered. k***k ( 44Yellow star icon for Feedback score between 10 to 49) 09-Apr-14 17:52
1991 Lotus Elan 1.6 SE Turbo (M100) (#121309523431) £2,550.00 View Item



What is interesting though is the day before yesterday I got an e-mail (not PM) from a hotmail account, no name, just initials: J C.

"Hi I have an elan se turbo for sale. Am based in sheffield. Wanting £2500 for her. If your interested let us know and I can provide all the details Thanks"

When I went and checked the e-mail address of the starter of the 'coincidence' thread and who e-mailed me they're the same.

The cogs started turning: just how many cheap Lotus Elans can there be in one city, even the size of Sheffield.

I've asked them to provide more details, but so far none. They only place they could have got my e-mail and known I want an Elan is through this forum.

I'm not trying to sh!t stir, but someone is clearly trying to dupe some poor sod into buying what potentially sounds like a bent nail.

[inkitin]

Seems as though the winning bidder didn't complete the purchase then.

Looking again at the listing, there's a 14 day refund allowed on it! I wonder how much of the 14 days the winner used up before "sending" it back!

[RogueTrooper]

Just to clarify so all you Chinese whisperers can stop speculating.
I put the car on ebay to sell. Said buyer came up to buy the car. I asked him for proof of insurance as I didn't want him to drive the car. He was 20 years old. A mobile phone print off didn't cut it. So in all my wisdom I told the buyer that I would allow him to drive the car on a quiet stretch of road. On the way up I explained to him that the car's handling wasn't great and allignment needed looking at. It only pulls when you plant your foot and does nothing else in normal driving.
He then proceeded to drive the car and was adamant the steering was 'Knackered' .
So he said he wasn't happy with buying and I accepted that. Then a few hours later he's put bad feedback on my account.
So next day I decided to take the car down to get the allignment looked at. Within hindsight I should have done this earlier but been too busy at work. And yes problem has been solved and car handles fine now.
I rang the guy and told him the problem was rectified and his feedback was pretty OTT. He says he's removing it as I wasn't happy and was taking it up with ebay.
And Danny R no one is trying to dupe anyone. Your entitled to your view.


Remember there's always 2 sides to every story. However feel fre to jump on the bandwagon.

Flame suit on. incoming

[inkitin]

I think if you step back and look dispassionately at all the information we had to work with (excluding your post above), you might have to consider that you didn't handle the whole thing very well.

Just out of interest, are you going to keep your Elan now?

[Danny R]

Flame suit on. incoming

What does that mean? Are you miffed that we speculated correctly?

And Danny R no one is trying to dupe anyone. Your entitled to your view.

I stand by everything I've said. Put yourself in my position:

I saw the car on eBay, wanted to view and you wouldn't let me. That made me think you wanted a blind auction. I'll put the eBay message stream on here if you want. I asked you some specific questions about the condition of the car, which you glazed over and didn't answer, you then went on to say 'you're not a mechanic' - yeah, that's why I wanted to view the car. At not point did you mention the car had a handling issue despite my querying the condition. You didn't, by your own admission, seem to think it was important to tell the winning bidder until he was on your doorstep.

It is a fact that you sent me an anonymous e-mail days after the end of you auction. You didn't mention the car condition in that either.

Your email didn't give a name or contact details, or that you were a LEC user and your username, how you knew I wanted an Elan or anything.

But, If you wanted to contact me to sell your car:
1. Why didn't you let me see it when it was on eBay?
2. Why didn't you PM through LEC, why go straight to e-mail?
3. Why don't you just try and sell your Elan on these for sale boards to the community?
4. Didn't you introduce yourself properly in the e-mail as to where you'd got my details?

I don't know if I should be feeling contrite right now for some reason, but I don't. This was all very weird and I felt I did nothing wrong alerting others to what potentially could've been a bad situation.

I dunno, I'll let the rest of the community judge me on this one.

If you've got the car fixed - great. Good luck to you selling it, I wish you all the best and no hard feelings.

[GeoffSmith]

Back on topic. Have you considered Phil's £2900 NA? I would trust Phil (and Will) over anyone unseen off eBay.

[novacaine]

What about surfboardfiller's non turbo he posted?

[Fredjohn]

Back on topic. Have you considered Phil's £2900 NA? I would trust Phil (and Will) over anyone unseen off eBay.

= What about surfboardfiller's non turbo he posted?

Just to avoid confusion it's the same person/car!

[RogueTrooper]

But, If you wanted to contact me to sell your car:
1. Why didn't you let me see it when it was on eBay?
2. Why didn't you PM through LEC, why go straight to e-mail?
3. Why don't you just try and sell your Elan on these for sale boards to the community?
4. Didn't you introduce yourself properly in the e-mail as to where you'd got my details?

1. Not sure if i explained to you on ebay but that day you contacted me i took day off work for 5 viewings of which 1 turned up. I was bombarded with emails about the car like spam. Therefore you probably caught the bad end of my day so i couldn't be bothered wasting anymore time with viewings.
2. When it said contact you it gave me choice of email or pm. I presume most people check their email.
3. Never really thought of selling on here. Ebay has a wider audience.
4. I simply asked you if you were interested and i could provide the relevant details after.

No one is judging you not even me. I'd have most likely read into it the same as you. I've learnt a lesson too remember.

[Rambo]

Back on topic. Have you considered Phil's £2900 NA? I would trust Phil (and Will) over anyone unseen off eBay.

I totally agree with you Geoff. I'd trust a well known and respected member of LEC anyday compared to the unknowns you see on E-bay or Autotrader. I cant understand it

[Danny R]

It's been said a few times to buy off the LEC community and I tend to agree. I'm just trying to spread a wide net and see a much as I can locally, get a feel for what's out there. I've seen a couple on here that are interesting and I have seen Phil's NA. Smudge and Philhecht also have cars that if I can get enough time I'd like to go see. WillB's S2 looks very popular too and I've thought that was more-or-less sold, I think I should put some serious thought into seeing that one now.

Today I went an hour into Lincolnshire to see this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121313060838

This is a nice honest car and a bit over budget. He's a nice chap (I believe he's a LEC member too), everything he said was absolutely right. It had a few little niggles but nothing major. I liked it. He really loves this car and it shows, but he's holding out for the asking price and I have to work out if I should come up to meet him. He even got the car up on chocks to show me underneath. Full set of Elan workshop manuals and a complete set of spare alloys. I think he may think better of selling though, he didn't seem convinced to me.

So, I dunno now - I think I might be getting Elan blindness, so much to see so little time.

[Rambo]

WillB's S2 looks very popular too and I've thought that was more-or-less sold, I think I should put some serious thought into seeing that one now

I think you may have left it too late ??

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/ ... in/2200975